Robert Fritz Inc - Principles

Structure

The term structure has been used in many contexts in our lives – this is a quick definition of how we use the term.

Structure is a whole thing. A car is a structure. A rocking chair is a structure. A building is a structure, as is the human body. A structure is an entity that is undivided, complete and total.

Your life is a structure, and as all structures, it will have certain ways it will act, behave and work. Certainly a car works differently than a rocking chair. A building works very differently than does a human body. Your life may work very differently from how other people's lives work.

There are two basic structural patterns people have: advancing and oscillating. Advancing is a structure in which the success you have achieved becomes the platform for future success. You can build momentum over time, and the sum total of your life experiences leads you forward. In an oscillating structure the success you have created is neutralized. Each step forward is followed by a step backward. Within this structure, success cannot succeed long term.

If you try to change your life and you are in an oscillating structure, success will only be temporary.

From 'Your Life as Art' by Robert Fritz

Oscillation or advancement?

The structure at play in a person's life or an organization causes one of two types of behavior – oscillation or advancement.

With oscillation, the tendency is to swing back and forth between competing goals such as change and stability or short- and long-term growth. If there is advancement, the tendency is to consistently move forward with each achievement serving as a foundation for further achievements.

By examining the structures in play and utilizing the creative process, you can replace your oscillating structures with advancing ones.

The creative process

You can create your life in the same way an artist develops a work of art. When you begin to approach your life from that orientation, you transform your world. You become more directly involved in your own life building process, you create more of what you truly want, and you broaden the quality of your life experience.

You can conceive of the life you want to bring into being as an artist conceives of a painting, take strategic actions to build such a life as the artist takes all the necessary actions to create the painting, and inhabit the life you want to create as the artist may hang the painting on the wall to experience it.

Expressed another way, you can be the playwright, and also the lead actor, and also the audience for your own life play.

You can be your work, and you can be its author. And, like the artist, writer, playwright, filmmaker and composer, the creative process can be your operational practice.

From 'Your Life as Art' by Robert Fritz

Tension seeks resolution

A basic principle found throughout nature is this: Tension seeks resolution. From the spiderweb to the human body, from the formation of the galaxies to the shifts of continents, from the swing of pendulums to the movement of wind-up toys, tension-resolution systems are in play.

'I call the relationship between the vision and current reality structural tension. During the creative process, you have an eye on where you want to go, and you also have an eye on where you currently are.

There will always be structural tension in the beginning of the creative process, for there will always be a discrepancy between what you want and what you have. Why? Because creators bring into being creations that do not yet exist. Structural tension is a fundamental principle in the creative process. In fact, part of your job as a creator is to form this tension.'

From 'Creating' by Robert Fritz

The Three Aspects of Creating

The mechanics
The mechanics of the creative process include things like 'how do you think about your end results'; how do you know where you are in relationship to those results, and how do you develop strategic and tactical plans in order to accomplish them.

The orientation
You may know the mechanics of the creative process and yet still not be able to accomplish the results you want over time – you may still end up in an oscillating pattern. It is important to know something about the orientation of the creative process in order to be able to successfully apply the mechanics of the creative process in your life.

The spirit
By looking deeply within yourself you can discover what really matters to you – those things that are the source of why you create.

'The third dimension of the creative process concerns the deeper aspects of the human being. Often this realm is thought of as the domain of philosophy, metaphysics or religion. But there is another lens through which to view this aspect of human makeup, one without the limitations of beliefs, dogma, creed, doctrine, or conviction. This lens explores without an idea of what one might find. This true exploration can open the door to the deepest source of the creative process. For your life to be art, you cannot ignore your own depth, your own reservoir of vitality. Through the creative process, your true spirit and essence is expressed throughout your life. When you are in touch with this spirit, you are transformed in many ways. It impacts your life direction, your understanding of what's important to you, and your quality of life. It can be a platform from which to stand, a touchstone for deepest values and highest aspirations, a source of inner strength, and a fountainhead for amazing intrinsic generative energy.

From 'Your Life as Art' by Robert Fritz